The hiring process was straightforward, but the interview was not. A BP recruiter contacted me about the position, I filled out a detailed application online, then the recruiter organized the on-site interview. The interview started with a one-on-one with the department manager. He spent about 30 minutes detailing the size and complexity of the site and highlighted how he was so understaffed. Then I had a series of three panel interviews, each one consisting of 3-4 people asking a variety of technical and behavioral questions. The technical questions were quite difficult and are not ones easily answered in the time allotted. The behavioral questions must all be answered in the STAR format: Situation, Task, Action, and Result. I felt the questions got progressively harder and more nebulous until I was unable to answer. The occasional shaking of heads and grimacing at each other only made me more nervous. Then that was the end of each panel. I came away from the experience feeling very inadequate and really doubting my abilities as an engineer. I know I provided some excellent answers, some of which could only be obtained through years of experience and not from a book. LESSON LEARNED: it appeared that each interview panel was not as concerned about the accuracy of my technical or behavioral answers but HOW I handled the pressure of the situation. I only wish I had known this going in -- I would have been more relaxed. Each of the people I met implied how stressful it had been for the previous year, while the plant was commissioning a major capital expansion. A tour of their offices and working facilities showed the same. The folks seemed genuine, although their written remarks did not agree with the intangibles I picked up throughout the day and even over lunch.